RANGERS may have nil poi when it comes to Champions League points and goals but tomorrow presents a golden opportunity to rectify that statistic and reignite their European aspirations when Liverpool come to town.
Last season’s Europa League finalists have been on a steep learning curve where harsh lessons have dished out in Amsterdam, Ibrox and Anfield.
But improvements have been made, albeit they’ve not been enough to turn defeats into more positive outcomes.
Ahead of Saturday’s routine 4-0 win over St Mirren, Light Blues boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst spoke of his team’s learning process as they dine at European football’s top table. The Dutchman said: “We are keeping improving in the Champions League if you compare Ajax to Liverpool. As a team, we will become stronger and we need to take that back into domestic football.
“Look at all the teams we are playing. Liverpool have played three of the last five Champions League finals, that’s incredible. Then you have to make sure you stay in the game. We conceded only twice from set-pieces against Liverpool.
“Of course, we were under pressure in large parts of the game but if you see the games we lost before we were already out of it in the first 20 or 25 minutes. We did much better against Liverpool.”
There is no denying the point van Bronckhorst is making and the handsome victories over Hearts and St Mirren indicate their involvement in the Champions League is having a positive impact domestically.
What was frustrating last week at Anfield was the fact Rangers appeared resigned to their fate before a ball was kicked when this was and still is a Liverpool team in a spot of disarray.
Defensively they are a shambles and, like Rangers, are enduring an injury crisis of their own with the news Luis Diaz, Joel Matip and Trent Alexander-Arnold have been ruled out for a number of weeks.
While Rangers struggled to lay a glove on the Reds last week, they are capable of delivering a knockout blow tomorrow in front of an expected cauldron of noise. The influence the Ibrox crowd can make cannot be underestimated, the run to Seville wouldn’t have happened without it. It has the ability to inspire and push the players on to reignite their hopes of playing European football post-Christmas.
Should Rangers pick up a point or, even better, three then it is likely to set up a winner-takes-all showdown with Ajax in the final group match for a place in the Europa League knockout stages.
As much as Amsterdam was nothing short of diabolical, Rangers at home is an entirely different proposition and you’d fancy another famous night under the lights next month.
However, it’s imperative Rangers learn from their lessons. They must show a level of bravery and desire that was lacking at Anfield if they are to keep those faint hopes alive.
If they can do that they will give themselves more than a fighting chance to take something off a side that looks bereft of belief and a shadow of the team that was vying for a quadruple last term.
Some of the biggest teams in Europe have come a cropper down Edmiston Drive in the last few years, this Rangers team are more than capable of adding Liverpool to that list.
This piece is an extract from today’s Rangers Insider newsletter, which is emailed out at 4pm every weekday with a round-up of the day's top stories and exclusive analysis from the Rangers Review team.
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